The Independent Spirit Awards announced their 2017 nominees Tuesday. The Spirit Awards, designed to recognize the best in indie filmmaking, honor films made for $20 million or less. The nominees for this awards ceremony are always worth paying attention to as they tend to be a pretty good indicator of which films and performances will have a good chance of being nominated for an Academy Award. Over the past three years, the Spirit Awards and the Oscars have picked the same Best Picture: 2016’s Spotlight, 2015’s Birdman and 2014’s 12 Years a Slave.

Stella Meghie’s Jean of the Joneses received a nomination in the Best First Screenplay category, and Ava DuVernay’s political documentary 13th has been nominated in the documentary category.

Meghie will be competing against Robert Eggers’ The Witch, Chris Kelly’s Other People, Adam Mansbach’s Barry, and Craig Shilowich Christine who have all received nominations in the same category

Loosely based on Meghie’s personal experiences, this indie comedic drama follows 25-year-old Jean and her multi-generational dysfunctional, middle-class Jamaican-American family of women. When an estranged grandfather dies on the doorstep of the family’s brownstone during Sunday dinner, tensions rise, and old conflicts come to a boil as Jean uncovers the family’s buried secrets. The critically acclaimed comedy-drama was distributed via TV One and made it’s television debut last month.

DuVernay’s critically acclaimed mass incarceration documentary 13th has been nominated for an IDA Documentary Award in the Best Feature category and also in the Best Music category and recently won the award for Best Political Documentary in addition to the Best Director and Best Documentary Award in the tv/streaming category at the Critic’s Choice Documentary Awards.

13th traces the history from the US constitution’s 13th amendment, which abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, to 2016, where one-in-three black American males can expect to be imprisoned during his lifetime. It explores racial imbalances in the criminal justice system, and features appearances from author Michelle Alexander, activist Angela Davis, and Senator Cory Booker, among others. At it’s core, this powerful film charts the path that shows the audience how history has been repeating itself from the Jim Crow era to the present.

The full list of nominees follow below, and will take place on February 25 in Santa Monica and will broadcast live on IFC at 5pm EST.

About The Author

K. Nicole Mills is the Founder of HBR Media. She transitioned from Wall Street to television and film development, and has worked at NBCUniversal, Universal Pictures, and Showtime Networks. She currently develops digital programming for premium networks. Reach out anytime! info@hbrmedia.org